Rome [ENA] At its meeting in Helsinki in 1992, the then-CSCE Council invited the Chairman-in-Office to organize as soon as possible a conference on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict involving Armenia and Azerbaijan. This event was to take place in Minsk and provide a forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement. In 1994, the OSCE Budapest Summit created the so-called Minsk Group,

which continues to work for the creation of conditions in which such a conference can take place.
The Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group are Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation; Stéphane Visconti of France; and Mr. Andrew Schofer of the United States of America.
The Group’s permanent members are Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. On a rotating basis, also the OSCE Troika is a permanent member.
The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, met with

OSCE

President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on 7 February and President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan on 9 February. In both capitals, they also held consultations with the respective Foreign Ministers. The Co-Chairs also travelled to Nagorno-Karabakh on 9-11 February to meet with de facto authorities and visited specific locations in the Zangelan, Kubatly, Agdam, Lachin, and Kelbajar districts. The Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, leads the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
OSCE representatives highlighted the importance of fulfilling, in good faith, all promises given during the October 2017 Summit in Geneva and at previous summits, in particular,

Vienna and St. Petersburg.
Deep concern has been expressed over the recent loss of life on the Line of Contact. The Co-Chairs called upon the Sides to take further actions in order to reduce tensions, as agreed in Geneva, and to follow the ceasefire. The Co-Chairs also appealed upon the Sides to abstain from inflammatory statements and provocative actions. OSCE reiterated the commitment to helping the Sides find a peaceful solution to the conflict based on the core principles of the Helsinki Act, including the non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples. The parties expressed the intention to continue intensive negotiations, taking into account the current electoral period.